Review: National Museum of Science and Technology, Denmark

In Helsingor, north of Copenhagen Denmark, lies two huge former industrial hangars. Inside is the National Museum of Science and Technology. The hangars are filled with historical airplanes, motorcycles, cars and other vehicles and machines. The sight can be overwhelming and giving you the feeling of not knowing where to start. In the middle there is a huge Scalextric slot car racetrack, cheap points for the kids to like the place. Unfortunately, the cars are not able to fall off the track, so holding down the gas on the controller is all you need to do…so it’s not how good you are in the turns but how fast your car is…ofcourse it gets boring fast. Luckily the museum’s got lots more to offer:

– The aviation pioneer J.C.H. Ellehammer’s original airplane (in the air in 1906 as one of the first airplanes in the world!!) and his very futuristic helicopter (from 1912 – also one of the first in the world)

– Experience Danish railway history in model (Märklin 0:87-scale) . The museum is working on building 9 modules each representing an epoch from the beginning of the Danish railway system with the engine “Odin” named after an ancient nordic God, and up to today. Only 2 of the 9 modules are ready but I can’t wait to see the final result!

– Skoletjenesten (school service) is a Danish offer to schools, with teaching materials suited the exhibited materials. The museum has developed an app for tablets (Android and iPad) about the energy crisis and iPads can be borrowed at the museum desk. more about the app here.

– Outside the museum, there is a working model steam train in scale about 1:10 . You can ride it, especially the buys are crazy about it! The track is actually quite long, so you get good value for the money.

– The museum homepage is very informal. Every exhibit is described and photo documented. It even comes in english !

All in all this museum is what it says it is: a technical MUSEUM! There is not a lot of “doing”, mostly “see, don’t touch”. And that is also what you can expect from a museum. But it’s not at all as exiting as the Norwegian counterpart that i reviewed here. So in terms of learning styles and creative thinking, the museum doesn’t get a top score. But when it comes to original exhibits, this place is a “must see”.